Spring Mantle Part 1: Monogram Madness

So I promised a good mantle makeover.

And I completely intend to deliver :)

When I started editing photos from my little mantle photoshoot... I ended up with tons more than I had planned on.

So I thought I'd break it down into several posts.

So it's officially my

Spring Break Spring Mantle Makeover.

Clever, huh?

I'm excited to show you the whole reveal...plus I've got tons of projects in the works to get done this week so I'm way excited to share stuff with you guys in the next weeks.

Onto the issue at hand...

this pathetic little piece:

Remember it's Christmas makeover?

\

Well it' pathetic-ness happened after all that came down.

And it bugged me severely.

It didn't take too long for me to finally get down to business.

I scoured my craft room and came up with a stack of things I could redo to make it over.

I thought I'd show you one of my favorites today and then move on to some more quick makeovers later this week.

Kay?

One of the things I found was this piece of wood.

I got it a while ago at Big Lots for like three bucks.

And yea... I have NO idea what it was doing there.

I mean it's a blank piece of wood.

At Big Lots.

Weird.

I took some different browns and whites I had and painted the board.

I like mixing the colors as I go to get a more layered effect than just a flat brown.

It took several coats to over it and get the layers I wanted.

Then I took this little chipboard H I had and my vintage white paint.

Easiest thing ever.

I painted the H...patted the excess off on the side of the plate and then literally stamped it.

The beauty is that since it's chipboard and not a rubber or foam stamp, it doesn't distribute evenly.

So you have these awesome distressed areas completely naturally.

Yay for distressing.

And as an added bonus, the texture of the chipboard is awesome in the paint...almost canvas-sy. :)

Here's the pretty thing after all my stamping...

I love that they all stamp differently.

The only interesting thing is when the chipboard layers start peeling off... but you learn to deal.

I love the distressed monogram.

I'm obsessed with H's.

You think it's that we're still somewhat newly-weds?

Or will I always love my H's?

Here it is sitting on my now prettified mantle.

Just a little sneak peek of what's to come.

Isn't that chocolate against the blue amazing?

Blue and brown still make me swoon.

Never fails.

What do you think?

Are you mad about monograms still?

They were all the rage last year and I'm still obsessed.

It's amazing what you can do with wood scraps and paint.

And apparantly you can get both at Big Lots :)

Or the side of the road, whichever you prefer.

Check back in Wednesday for Part 2 of the transformation.

Hope you guys are having an amazing spring break!!

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Linking to:

• Craft Catwalk @ Embellishing Life
• Trash to Treasure Tuesday @ Sassy Sites
• Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog
• Show me what ya got @ Not JUST a Housewife
• Anything Related @ All Thingz Related
• Lil Luna Link Partay @ Lil Luna
• Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts
• Under 100$ @ Beyond the Picket Fence
• Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge
• Link Party @ Remodaholic
• Link Party @ Spunky Junky